Cat busted, peeing in livingroom

[nekkiddoglady]

A few months back I had noticed that our old couch was starting to smell of cat urine. We couldnt figure out which cat- we had never caught anyone peeing anywhere. They all like to hang out in the livingroom. We have not noticed urine anywhere else.

I ended up getting rid of the old couch... and bought a slightly newer, but used one. I thought, maybe some old smell. It was a very old couch from the 80's.. Im sure despite how often I've scrubbed it, it still had smells from the previous owners- and possibly their pets.

I havent noticed any new odors recently, so I thought maybe that solved the problem.

Tonite we were sitting in the living room, and Mellow comes in and pee's on the little toddler couch. GRRR! Well, now we have the culprit.

I know the first step is a UTI.. I just find it odd that he doesnt pee other places. I would have thought that when an animal has a UTI, we'd be finding urine in various, places? We havent found urine anyplace for several weeks either. I have to wonder if maybe this isnt some kind of stress-related issue? The baby hangs out in the livingroom most of the day, and she really likes to torment that particular cat.

Im going to see about getting him to the vet, but if he checks out clear.. any ideas? If its stress-related to the baby, what can be done to correct this?

 

[pat traufield]

I would like to know more before giving you any suggestions. Since you were lucky enough to actually see the behavior - was the cat squatting or standing?

Do you know what the cat was doing right before he peed?

Usually with stress-related peeing it happens right after the stressor.

Have you checked other upholstered furniture with a black light?

Is the litter you use soft in texture?

 

[momofmany]

Another advisor on the site has observed that a cat with a UTI often pees on hard surfaces while those that are stressed out pee on soft surfaces. I've noticed with my chronic UTI boy that when he is ill, he likes to pee on cold stone surfaces (like my porcelain floor). This is generally true, but obviously doesn't apply to all cats. With that said, I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't have a UTI, but you certainly want to rule that out first.

When I first adopted my puppies 4 years ago, the cats were stressed and used to go inside their kennels and pee in there. I added cat condos to give them more vertical space to get away from the puppies, and closed the kennels when not in use (e.g. remove the object of their attention). I tried Feliway at the time, but I have a cat that is one of the 20% that doesn't respond to it. That is another option for you. I also made sure that the time I spent with the cats didn't decrease with the addition of the puppies.

Let us know what you find out at the vets and we can go from there.

 

[nekkiddoglady]

Originally Posted by Pat Traufield

I would like to know more before giving you any suggestions. Since you were lucky enough to actually see the behavior - was the cat squatting or standing?

Do you know what the cat was doing right before he peed?

Usually with stress-related peeing it happens right after the stressor.

Have you checked other upholstered furniture with a black light?

Is the litter you use soft in texture?

Squatting. When we removed the cover to the little chair to wash it, we noticed some stains in the backing and suspect that he may have been peeing on it other times.

Everyone was sitting around in the livingroom watching a movie.. I had just put the baby to bed. Im not really sure what the cat had done right before then. I was preoccupied with getting the baby settled into bed- its possible that he was upstairs laying on the bed in her room, but he could have easily been on our bed, or hanging out downstairs.

I dont have a black light to check.. but certainly look into getting one. I havent noticed urine smells on the "new" furniture tho.

The litter is the fine-grain clumping. He had no issues with using it when he first got here. At one point, my BF did choose the citrus scented litter- and was using that for a while.. I read something that suggested that some cats dont like citrus- so we thought maybe there's still a hint of the citrus odor in the litter pans that he doesnt like.

 

[ldg]

Well, whether it is stress peeing or a uti or cystitis or something, you are cleaning the couch with an enzyme cleaner, not a traditional cleaner? It's more expensive than some, but when Spooky was stress peeing on our bed and couch, Nok Out was what worked: http://www.nokout.com

 

[strange_wings]

Originally Posted by Pat Traufield

Usually with stress-related peeing it happens right after the stressor.

I have one that does exactly this. She would pee, only on soft items, within an hour of having a confrontation with one of the other cats in the home.
We keep everything picked up, furniture isn't a "soft item" to her or something - so that is safe, and she hasn't done this in at least a couple months. She left a scratch on Tomas' nose, though, so maybe she's just redirecting to fighting back now...

You said toddler couch. Any chance of kiddie pee scent on it being a possible trigger?

 

[nekkiddoglady]

for cleaning- we have a carpet scrubber with attatchements. The shampoo I use is for pet stains.

The kiddie couch is a lil foam couch with a cover that unzips.. we took the cover off and put in the washing machine, then used the scrubber on the foam.

Kiddie pee scent isnt impossible.. but she rarely has leaky diapers. When we first got the lil couch, the pets liked to lay on it, and the baby would push them off.

The toddler couch is like this.. her's has different cartoon characters on it, but otherwise exactly the same thing
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Mickey-Mou...eeper/13031871

 

[ldg]

Is the shampoo specifically an enzyme type cleaner? Many "shampoos" are designated for pet stains, but aren't actually enzyme cleaners. It may not actually be effective as it claims. Just something to consider.

But using a scrubber on the foam isn't enough. Cat pee wicks - an enzyme cleaner needs to be POURED onto and soaked into the foam and allowed to air dry. It needs to reach down INTO the area the cat pee has, or the smell of cat pee remains (at least to the cat's nose).

 

[nekkiddoglady]

Im not sure if it is enzymatic.

I can pick up a cleaner when I get off work tomm nite. What cleaners are available at walmart that would be reccommended?

 

[strange_wings]

Originally Posted by nekkiddoglady

Kiddie pee scent isnt impossible.. but she rarely has leaky diapers. When we first got the lil couch, the pets liked to lay on it, and the baby would push them off.

Of course, it's her couch! But it's possible it could have been very faint and the cat ignore it until now because he had somewhere else he'd rather pee - or it could be because it smells like the person he doesn't like as much.

I'm not sure about walmarts cleaners... haven't bought any there before.

I hope you can find one that works. If you do not have any pet supply stores, vet offices will often carry enzyme cleaners, too.

 

[nekkiddoglady]

I'd have to go out of town to go to a pet supply store... there are smaller stores around here, but pretty much if it cant be found at walmart, then it cant be found anywhere in town.

Should the packaging actually say "enzymatic" on it?

 

[Willowy]

Wal-Mart sells "Out!" brand enzymatic cleaner. It's more economical to get the half-gallon instead of the smaller spray bottle. It's not as good as some brand but should help.